NINE people were arrested on Monday in connection with the collapse of a footbridge into a river in the Indian state of Gujarat on Sunday.

All nine are associated with a company that maintained the bridge in Morbi, which was only reopened four days before the collapse killed at least 141 people.

Senior police officer Ashok Kumar Yadav said the nine were being investigated for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Video footage has emerged of the walkway crashing into the Machchhu river, leaving the other side dangling in mid-air as people fell into the water in the dark, while others clung on to the debris.

This comes as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was set to visit the site today.

But the attention of angered and bereaved families is turning to why the 150-year-old pedestrian bridge was allowed to reopen.

Opposition parties in Gujarat claim that proper authorisation for the reopening of the bridge had not been issued.

No evidence for this claim has been provided.